Wednesday, February 24, 2010

As if I didn't talk about it enough in the last post, here's yet more info about Bandai's Mighty Morphin Power Rangers line. So far it's been living up to my expectations, but that's only because I had very low expectations. I mean there's a lot of stuff to like, but the most of it is just random toys with a Power Ranger label sometimes literally slapped on.

Amongst those Dragon Shield wearing Rangers at Toy Fair was Bandai's new White Ranger action figure. It's somewhat of an odd choice. Unless they start skipping over large chunks of the series, the TV rebroadcast of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers won't even reach the point in the series when the White Ranger shows up. It will sell well regardless but they could have chosen to make some bad guys instead.

Toy News International has official pictures of several upcoming toys including the upcoming Titanus Carrier Zord Mix and Morph hybrid toy. First of all the new decals are still looking great. More importantly the pics confirm that the Dino Megazord will still be able to ride inside Titanus. Zordon is in his energy tube. All is right with the world.

The Toyark has news revealing that the remastered Mighty Morphin will continue through 2011. Next year is also when we'll finally get the Dragonzord. I don't know why Bandai has chosen to release it after Titanus but hey as long as it's coming.

Then in 2012 Bandai will have a toyline based on Shinkenger. I guess that means Disney or someone will be producing a new Power Rangers series based on Shinkenger? That would be fine but I wonder why they wouldn't just skip Shinkenger, seeing as how difficult it would be to adapt for Western audiences. Plus by that point Goseiger will have finished its run in Japan, so they could choose to adapt it instead.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Remember at the end of Batman Forever when the Riddler absorbs all the information from his brainwave gizmo and it drives him insane? That's kind of what the last few days have felt like for me. I guess that's what every Toy Fair feels like for me. Unlike the Riddler, I will eventually get better.

Bandai is releasing figures of the male Rangers wearing Green Ranger's Dragon Sheild. It makes sense since we do see other Rangers wear it on the show and it's a common custom, so Bandai is making official versions. But what about the Green Ranger who already wears the Shield? They're making a figure of him wearing even more armor. Wouldn't it have been better to release a figure without the Shield since we do see him like that?

The Red Power Ranger Unit 02 was developed by NERV-03 to be piloted by Asuka Langley Soryu.

The next Zord to be released in the revamped Mighty Morphin Power Rangers line is Titanus, coming even before the Dragonzord. The new Titanus has a Mix & Morph apparatus inside. Not surprisingly the fans aren't pleased about that. The press release states it will still be able to carry the Dino Megazord figure, so I guess it will work out okay.

I'll give Bandai this, the deco on the new Titanus is lot more on-model than the original toy from '93. You can easily compare the two because the original is pictured on the box. Real smooth Bandai.

Bandai is getting a lot of flack for making toys that have nothing to do with the Power Rangers series. Instead they seem prefer slapping Power Ranger imagery on any weird crap. The item pictured above pretty much sum this up best. I think they're supposed to be wrist watches. I think.

NECA is really dedicated to their Terminator 2 line. They've already released many different versions of Arnie and now they're turning their attention to the T-1000 who will be available in varying degrees of liquid metal-ness.

I wish I collected Superhero Squad. You don't see the non-cute toylines getting a S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters playset.

Funko is making monster style Star Wars figs. I love the zombie Stormtrooper but the Franken-Vader is too cartoony. He looks like Donald Duck. And Yoda and Chewbacca don't look as monstrous so much as they just look like angry versions of themselves.

Sonic the Hedgehog. Driving a car. Sure why not.

Hasbro has altered a lot of their initial plans for the Pursuit of Cobra. The Terror Drome has a comprehensive summary of what's going on there. I'm not too crazy about some of their decisions but at least they're still releasing the awesome new HISS tank.

The nicest surprise to come out of this year's Toy Fair? Diamond Select's upcoming Universal Monster line. A different toy company gets the license every few years but Diamond is planning to do a lot more with it than most. They're releasing Mini-mate block toys and Mego style 8" figures in addition to the nice looking figures with display bases pictured above. I was really hoping Mezco would get the Universal Monster license but Diamond's stuff looks promising.

The Four Horsemen completely knocked the Guy Gardner sculpt out of the park. Just looking at it makes me want to slug him in the face, but that just might be because I want to be Batman.

I've been dying for someone to make Venture Bros. figures. Biff Bang Pow have stepped to the plate but with some unusual results. Biff Bang Pow will be doing 8" Mego style figures for all their lines. Their live action based stuff looks alright, (you can see Ming the Merciless in one of the pictures above) but I don't know if it works for animated characters. At least not for ones with atypical body types like Brock and 21. Although doing the toys with a retro 70s feel does fit thematically with the Venture Bros.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

It's Toy Fair time and I've been sitting in front of my computer absorbing toy news for far too long. Cool Toy Review and Rebelscum have some of the best coverage on the net. Here's some highlights.

The big ticket item for Star Wars this year is a brand new Imperial AT-AT. It's a piece of mother frakkin' beauty. I want this and I know I shouldn't.

Hasbro's bringing back the Star Wars Vintage style packaging again. This time the line will include prequel and Expanded Universe based figures. For now though they only showed the initial Empire Strikes Back wave. It includes a Han Solo in his mechanic getup that he wears very briefly in the film. After thirty years they're still finding alternative looks of the main characters to make toys out of.

Here's something else I want that I know I shouldn't, but not because of the financial and physical space concerns I have with the AT-AT. This has more to do with resisting the shameful urge to run around the house and pretending I'm Boba Fett.

Behold Galactus, the devourer of worlds. Granted at 19 inches tall he needs someone to mash up his worlds for him before he can eat them. That's still pretty tall by action figure standards.

Tony Starch. I want to buy this. Less because of the toy itself and mostly because of my love of puns.

The Domo is always greener on the other side.

ADAM is a hell of a drug.

NECA's Predator sculpts rival those of Hot Toys. They had one based on the Predator of the original film and this guy who looks very similar. He's carrying a flintlock pistol. Is he one of the Predators from the end of the second movie?

They slimed him. Although I don't get why they're selling this one before the "non-slimed" Venkman.

Apparently the Avatar toyline is already reaching Star Wars territory of obscure character selection. There's going to be a toy of the greedy business executive complete with his little golf club. But does he come with Unobtanium?

Friday, February 12, 2010

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

The theatrical trailer for The Last Airbenderis now online. It's basically an extended version of the recent Super Bowl spot. When you get past the fact the actors are the wrong race for the characters they're playing, it's actually looking pretty good. The movie is clearly based on the first season or "Book One" and we even see a glimpse of Princess Yue.

Nickelodeon recently had a press event where they showed off some of the upcoming toys from Spin Master which gave us even more first looks at certain characters. We now know what Appa will look like, (kind of freaky apparently). The toys also confirm that Momo and the Blue Spirit will be in the movie. The figures themselves don't look bad though they would benefit from some more paint apps. At least Spin Master is willing to make a Katara figure which puts them ahead of Mattel in m book.

Monday, February 8, 2010

The original live action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is finally getting the special edition treatment on DVD, but only in Germany. The DVD will have director's commentary, deleted scenes, and the alternate ending. The novelization I had as a kid featured this ending. In it April and Danny use April's sketches to pitch the Turtles as a concept for a comic book, while the Turtles watch them from outside the skyscraper window. It's a little too in-jokey but I would like to see the filmed version.

Warner Bros just re-released the first TMNT film and its sequels last August but the Blu-ray discs had no extras and the DVDs were just the old ones in new packaging. I don't know why Warner couldn't be bothered to include these extras on their releases. At least now that they're available somewhere the odds are better of the U.S. getting them eventually. Maybe in 2012 when the new Nickelodeon produced Ninja Turtle movie comes out.

This is actually not the first time something I've been wanting to see released in the States for years came out in Germany. Power Rangers has been coming out in season sets on DVD for some time now. Although I suspect Disney will be releasing their remastered version on DVD soon enough. Question is, will people want it?

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Funimation has licensed Dragonball Kai, the remastered and recut version of Dragonball Z. This announcement should come as no surprise, but I admit I expected them to keep it under wraps for a little longer. They still haven't released the second Dragon Box yet. Funimation may not see Kai and the Dragon Boxes as being in direct competition with each other and they may be right. Kai is almost a different series and is more geared towards a casual audience. I'm still not sure what to make of Kai myself. Consumers like having options though so I'm sure it'll work out in Funi's favor. Funimation will be renaming the series Dragonball Z Kai though. Sure why not.

Welcome to the Suck

This blog functions as an implement for which pitiful peons such as yourself may come to view my mighty fist full of suck. This assumes of course that suck is a tangible quantity that could be held in one's fist.Also I write about random stuff and comment on things I'm interested in and junk.